PRR Project

Summary

1. TASKS TO BE ASSIGNED TO THE PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYEEThe prospective employee will be responsible for conducting advanced research studies concerning non-intrusive / non-destructive inspection and testing methods for use in Pavement Management Systems (PMS), including the following tasks:a) Identify and define in situ procedures and equipment to achieve a reliable and effective real time monitoring system, including the selection of the physical parameters to be measured for tracking changes in road conditions overtime.b) Evaluate, select the type of sensors, define their position in the pavement structure and the acquisition rate required and conduct installation in pavements test sectionsc) Design and develop an acquisition system compatible with the sensors installed that can handle the massive amounts of data generated in real time, including data trigger, data storage and validation routines.d) Develop and implement a post processing system, including the development of more reliable models for predicting pavement behaviour based on Machine Learning algorithms, which use real data and therefore consider the influence of seasonal variations such as temperature and moisture or the lateral distribution of loads, optimizing the final output.e) Create innovative decision support tools designed to be user-friendly with an interface displaying the overall state of the road network and providing alerts for suggested maintenance events. The developed tools can be made available to the national and international technical community.2. SCIENTIFIC PROFILE REQUIREDLNEC requires a researcher with experience in transport infrastructures, namely, pavement design, instrumentation, monitoring, and performance evaluation, having also some experience in laboratory and in situ testing of road materials and structures. The researcher for this position must have a scientific profile with knowledge on pavement structural evaluation, pavement condition survey, structural health monitoring, instrumentation, and software development.The researcher to be hired needs to have, in addition to scientific knowledge in the areas in question, clear interest, and motivation to develop the identified tasks, and experience in joint research projects.3. RATIONALE TO HIRE FOR THE SCIENTIFIC AREATransportation infrastructures play a pivotal role in fostering global development, facilitating socio-economic opportunities, and enhancing the competitive resilience of economies.Roads represent a large part of built infrastructure that must be managed and preserved in adequate condition during their lifecycle, to ensure adequate structural and functional conditions for the traffic while minimizing the costs associated.Improved PMS using real time data from embedded sensors, will provide a better understanding of road pavement condition and deterioration, improving road resilience and resistance and contributing for and a better use of resources.The proposed research aims to improve pavement maintenance management systems using real time data from embedded sensors, which allow for can a better understanding of road pavement condition and deterioration, improving pavement resilience and resistance and contributing for and a better use of resources.4. RELEVANCE OF THE SCIENTIFIC PROFILE OF THE PROPOSED POSITION IN THE CONTEXT OF THE STATE-OF-THE-ARTA PMS is usually supported by the periodical assessment of surface conditions and bearing capacity.Surface conditions are usually evaluated through visual inspections as well as measurement of roughness, texture, and skid resistance. These monitoring techniques only document the distresses that have already materialised; they are reactive rather than proactive in terms of identifying damage.The assessment of pavement bearing capacity, is commonly performed through deflection testing with Falling Weight Deflectometer. However, its application at network-level is time and cost consuming and presents road safety issues. The more recent Traffic Speed Deflectometer may solve some of these issues, but it is still very expensive, and only provides periodical information.In situ pavement monitoring with embedded sensors is a reliable and effective alternative for pavement condition monitoring that can be leveraged by recent developments in tools for data analysis. This methodology allows for continuous control without disturbing traffic, enabling precise measurements of pavement response, such as stress, strain, deflection, temperature, among others.The pavement instrumentation itself is just one on the components of a real time monitoring system, that will greatly depend on other three key modules: the data acquisition system, the post processing system, and the decision support tools. The integration of these modules clears the path for the alleged "smart road" and will be the focus of this research.